Chapter Four

Wherein Trixie the Wonder Dog finds out who is whistling and our friends meet The Scritcher

“Scared?  Really?  You think I’m scared, Jack?” Grace asked.  “Indeed, I merely suggested that you go check it out because –“.

Grace’s voice trailed off at the sound of another whistle, followed closely by what sounded like a cross between a skittering noise and scratching.  While Trixie was pondering what could be making the noise and whether it was actually skittering or scratching, Jack staged whispered, “Trix!  What’s that scritching noise?”

At this Lily began to wax eloquent on the word scritch.  She said, “Hmmm, scritch.  Is this a word?  It doesn’t really seem like a word, but I am rather entertained by the fact that Jack either just invented a new word, or else it is actually a word that up until this point in my life was unbeknownst to me.  I shall challenge myself to find the history and origin of this most scritchiness of scritchy words.”

While she was pondering the question of the word scritch, Hannah interjected Lily’s wordsmith revelry by saying that she definitely liked the word or not-word scritch and she would most assuredly be using it in her next novel even if she had to write an entire chapter that really didn’t fit in with her story, just so she could use it.

All of this was happening while the scritching and whistling continued.  Trixie’s ears were standing at attention as she tried to ascertain where the sound was coming from.  She whispered, “Ok kids.  That noise is coming from outside the library from the southwest corner on the east side of the build –“

All four kids groaned.  Again.  “Could  you just please tell us where it is without giving the latitude and longitudinal coordinates of it for once.  We don’t care about all that southwest, north of northeast stuff!”

“Fine.  It’s coming from the back of the building near the sidewalk, by the Live Oak tree.  Is that better?  Someday you will thank me for making you learn latitude and longitude you know.  Someday when you are in your car and you have to go somewhere that requires you to look at an actual map you will say, ‘my dog taught me all about this stuff.  I can find a coordinate on a map faster than some people can find the keys to their car.”

“Oh brother.  Nice try, Trixie. Mom taught us all of that.” Grace responded.

“Well, maybe she did or maybe she didn’t, but I didn’t see her helping to find out how to get home from the North Pole that time we went up there to check out the penguins and the Narwhals.  Remember?”

“Ok, Trixie.  You win.  Mom would likely not have gone on that excursion anyway since she is cold all of the time.  Can you imagine her traipsing around the North Pole?”

Grace’s siblings burst out laughing at the thought of their Mother walking around the North Pole.  At home in the winter, she generally dressed with no less than three shirts on and at least that many pairs of socks.  Usually she had sweatpants on under her jeans and that was layered over her long John’s.  And that was her usual attire for indoors.  If she had needed to go outdoors, her arms would have stuck straight out like the stick arms of that snowman they built last winter, before they had a snowball fight.

“Hello!  Can we focus? This is why nothing ever gets done around here!  You guys are so far off topic, I’ll probably have to edit this section right out of the book, unless it’s funny enough to leave in.  So, what are we going to do about that scritching noise?” Lily wanted to know.

As if on cue, the scritching noise began again and sounded even close if that was possible.

Trixie said, “Ok.  Here’s what we’re going to do.  I will take the lead because I am Trixie the Wonder Dog and I am invincible.  The rest of you follow me.  Ok?”

Jack gave her a puzzled look and said, “Is that your fearless plan?  You lead, we follow?  What if we are walking into an ambush?”

Hannah agreed, “Yeah, what if it’s an ambush?  What are we going to do then? What if we are captured and waterboarded?  What then?”

Grace rolled her eyes.  “Waterboarding?  No matter what is out there, who or what and for what reason would they want to waterboard us?  Do we know Top Secret secrets?  No, we do not.  Do we know even one famous person that we might have some dirt on?  No, we d-..”

“Hey, yes we do!  We know Honeycomb the Scotish lass, author of her own biography.  Someone might want to know what we know about her.” Hannah interrupted Trixie.  “And I might add that we know, and actually own the world’s only Wonder Dog, full of wonderous powers and possessing a somewhat sarcastic, if not scattered wit about her.”

“For pity’s sake.” Grace said.  “We are in no danger of being tortured for any information we may possess, unless the source of the scritching somehow finds out that we can all read the coordinates on a map and for some reason, their GPS doesn’t work anymore.”

“Ok.  I agree.  We are safe!”  Jack pronounced. “Trixie! Lead the way!”

With that Trixie took up the lead position with the kids following behind and set off to find out what the whistling and scratching was all about.  They tip-toed through the library which Grace and Lily found to be overkill and Jack and Hannah thought was funny.  She stayed flush with the wall and cautiously peered around corners nose first, lest any scritching creature was bounding about the confines of the New Release section of the library.  She was proud of herself for not getting distracted by the new books even though she thought the pages and print smelled divine.  Later, she admitted that perhaps she did not need to linger quite as long as she did, while making their way to the Employees Only door of the library.

The scritching was increasing in volume and the stealthy creep across the library heightened everyone awareness and stretched their nerves taut.

Ah- choooooooey!

Everyone nearly jumped out of their skin and adrenaline surged through their bodies.  Everyone except Trixie whose Wonder Dog senses had honed in on the fact that Hannah was getting ready to sneeze.

“Come ON Han!”  Jack fussed.  “Was that necessary?”

“Well, what did you want me to do?  How can I hold in a sneeze?”  She inquired of her brother.

“You can’t, I guess.  But man!”

Grace laughed and said, “What’s the matter Jack?  Did she get some on you or did she just scare you?”

Jack just looked at her and said, “You just wait, Grace.”

“For what?  What are you going to do?  You aren’t scared are you?”

“Stop IT and be quiet!” Trixie said.  “We are getting ready to go outside.  We gotta be careful and sneak.  No more talking!  No more sneezing!  Got it?”

All four kids nodded their heads in agreement.  Trixie said, “This is how we proceed.  Me first, then you four.” The kids rolled their eyes, but Trixie ignored them. “I have to lock the door behind us so Honeycomb doesn’t get in trouble.  As soon as we get outside, you guys make a beeline for the bushes near the sidewalk while I do that and then we will sneak up on The Scritcher.”

Just then, the group heard a low whistle, followed by the sound of toenails clicking against the sidewalk and then a man’s voice. “Dakota!  Where were you girl?  I’ve been looking all over for you.  Come on, let’s go home.”

Trixie started laughing as Dakota barked her response to her owner.  The kids just looked at her.

“I don’t like it when you do that.” Lily said. “It’s like you have a special code that we aren’t allowed to know.”

Trixie cleared her throat and said, “Well Lily, it is a secret language in some ways but that’s just because you humans can’t really hear what dogs have to say.  Dakota was telling her person that he was the one who threw her ball way over under the tree which required her to investigate all of the other dogs smells over there.  Then, when she found her ball it was all dirty and gross because it’s sandy under the Live Oak so she took it over to that creek to wash it off.”

“She only barked four times, Trixie.” Hannah pointed out.  “How could she possibly say that much in only four barks?”

Trixie was getting exasperated.  “Because I speak Dog, that’s how I know what she said.  Dogs speak in a much more concise way than humans do you know.  You all take 50,000 words to say what could have been said in much fewer.  At any rate, at least we have solved the mystery of The Whistler.”

All four kids sighed.  They loved Trixie.  She was so much fun.  She took them on outrageous adventures.  She got side tracked by sights and smells while they were out and about and often led them far astray of what their goal was even if it turned out better than they had hoped.  But, sometimes when she acted as if she were the superior creation, they got bored.  They indulged what seemed to be her delusion.  However, there were times when they were on adventures that the kids doubted whether Trixie really was just a dog.  Certainly, she could communicate and that was not really something that could be explained.  Also, she was able to take them places and that was not really something that could be explained either.  Lastly, they had seen her skills and the only thing that could be said was that she truly was a Wonder Dog.

“Right-o, Trixi-o, let’s go!” Jack fairly yelled and then laughed because, he rhymed his statement and it was amusing to him even if his sisters were not as impressed with his prose as he was.

“Pipe down so The Scritcher doesn’t hear us.” 

“Sorry.” Jack said even though he didn’t sound very contrite or sorry and Trixie was sure he was going to forget to pipe down again in the very near future.

“Ok, I’m going to count to three and then I’ll open the door.  As soon as the door is open, you four make a beeline to the bushes. Be aware of your surroundings and no talking.” Trixie said.

Lily wanted to know how Trixie would know that it was safe to open the door.  Trixie reminded her about her supersonic hearing that was even more magnified than the average dog.  She told her that she could hear snowflakes landing on the ground and she could hear earthworms crawling around inside the earth so certainly she could tell whether or not someone was on the other side of the library door.  Lily thought these claims were probably not based upon the truth of any kind or by any stretch of the imagination, but she went along with Trixie’s claim’s, if for no other reason than she wanted to find out who or what The Scritcher was.

“Ok, you guys.  Ready? One.  Two. Th –“

“Wait!” Jack interrupted Trixie’s countdown.

“What!?” Trixie said slightly annoyed that he had stopped their exit from the library.

“Will you say three and then we go?  Or do we go at the same time as when you say three?”

“Jack!”  Hannah said.  “That would really be two and a half, not three.”

“No, it wouldn’t.”

“Yes it would.”

“Not really.  Trix isn’t going to actually say two and a half so how can it be two and a half and not three?”

“You interrupted us for that?” Grace asked.  “I think you have been watching too many movies and I’m telling Mom and Dad when we get home.”

“Have not tattletale.”

“Have too.  And I’m not a tattletale.  At least not yet.  But there was a movie that came out a long time ago, like when Mom and Dad were young, and this exact conversation was in that movie.”

“Are you sure it was the exact conversation or a similar conversation?” Lily asked not really expecting an answer.  “There’s a difference you know.”

“It was a similar conversation, Lily if we must be technical.  I mean, I don’t really know we should ask Grace since she is the one who watched the movie.”  Jack challenged her with The Look.

“Have not.” Grace smirked at him.

“Well, I guess you have been watching too many movies too, if you know that much about the conversation, Grace.” Hannah challenged her with The Look.

“Have not.” Grace answered.

“Have too.” Jack countered.

“Oh for the love of The Scritcher!  Can we just count to three and get on with it?  The noise is making me crazy.” Trixie said.

“What noise?  I don’t hear any noise anymore.” Lily said.  “And I’m never really sure if you are hearing it either Trixie or if you just say so to make us nervous about what might be lurking outside.”

Scriiiiittttchhhhhhhhh.

“Yikes!  What was that?” Lily said.

Hannah looked at her with a look that said, “Do you believe me now?  Trixie said, “I thought you weren’t sure if Trix really heard The Scritcher or not?”

Lily mumbled something about younger sisters and Wonder Dogs know it alls while everyone regrouped and got ready to sneak out the door at the count of three.

Trixie said, “Let’s try this again you guys.  On the count of three.  One!  Two!  Three!”

As soon as Trixie had the word three out of her mouth, the kids opened the door and did an army crawl across the threshold, through the grass, over the sidewalk and met under the bushes.  Everyone except for Jack and Hannah.  Where were they?  Lily and Grace peered into the darkness trying find their siblings.  How could they be missing?  There wasn’t any place to go between the door and the bushes.  Where were they and what was taking Trixie so long to meet them?

While Trixie thought the kids were making their way to the safety of the bushes, she took advantage of the momentary dose of freedom, ran back to the New Releases section of the library and grabbed the new biography of Beautiful Joe off the shelf.  She scanned her library card and tucked the book into the pouch around her neck.  Then she quickly made her way across the library and out the door where she made sure it was locked.  When she turned around, she could see two kids outlined under the bushes, but she could not find Jack or Hannah.  She was also aware that the scritching noise had stopped.  All was quiet except for the excited whisper of the sisters safely ensconced under the bushes.

“Where are they.” Grace whispered.  Trixie did not like the frightened tone she detected in Grace’s voice.

“I don’t know.  I can’t see them!” Lily whispered.

“Leave it to Jack to run off on another adventure without telling us!  How are we going to find them?  It’s pitch dark out here?”

By that time, Trixie had made her way over to the two frightened kids.  “What’s going on?  Where are Jack and Hannah?” she asked them.

“We don’t know. They were behind us when we went through the door and then they disappeared.” Grace said, assuming the role of informant.

“Well, they have to be around here somewhere, they didn’t just vanish into thin air.” The family dog said.

“No kidding.” Grace said, dryly. “If I get in trouble for losing them, I’m coming after you Trix.”

“No need to threaten me.  I will find them or else my name is not Trixie the Wonder Dog!”

“Your bravado is exceptionally out of place right now, Trixie.”

“What bravado?  I AM the Wonder Dog.”

“Can we just focus here and try and find our brother and sister, please?” Hannah asked.

“Certainly.  I can hear them right now.” Trixie stated very matter of factly.

“What?! I don’t hear a thing.  Even that scritching noise is gone.” Grace’s eyes widened as she sank further into a frightful thought process:  What if The Scritcher had Jack and Hannah?

“Trix?” Grace ventured.  “What if The Scritcher snatched them?”

“Oh that’s nothing to worry about Grace.  I told you I can hear them and I know right where they are.”

“Really?  Then where are they? Because we can’t hear a thing.” Lily stated.

“They are under the sidewalk.” Trixie replied.

“What do you mean “under the sidewalk?” Grace asked, her voice beginning to tremble with fear of the unknown.  “People don’t go under sidewalks.  It just doesn’t happen!”

“Well, this time it did happen and they are under the sidewalk.”  Trixie repeated.

“I don’t believe this.  How does one get under a sidewalk.”  Hannah questioned, not really knowing what to believe.  The whole idea of falling under the sidewalk made no sense to her.

“Generally, what happens is someone is walking along and suddenly there is a hole in the sidewalk and the pedestrian falls in it and discovers themselves to be under the sidewalk.”  The Wonder Dog explained.

“Can they get out?  Are they hurt?  Is The Scritcher down there too?”

The volley of questions started to give Trixie a headache.  She had to concentrate so she could figure out how to get the kids out from under the sidewalk.

“They are fine!  I told you that already.  I mean, they are fine as long as The Scritcher isn’t down there with them.  That might be troublesome if that is the case.  At any rate, there is plenty of room under the sidewalk to move around, escape, or –“

“I don’t believe you!  You just said they were fine, but only as long as The Scritcher wasn’t down there too!  And you can’t hear the scritching noise anymore so you don’t know if it’s down there or not.” Grace said.

“True.  However, I can hear your brother and sister laughing right now so I highly doubt The Scritcher is down there.  Let’s calm down so we can find the point of entry and rescue them.” 

“The Point of Entry?  Did you not just say that they fell in a hole?  Did you rip that off from ‘Alice in Wonderland’ when the rabbit falls down the hole?”

“Uh. No.  I did not steal that scenario.  I did not even read Alice in Wonderland.  It made my head hurt.  Talking animals, people made out of playing cards, it was really too much of a stretch for my imagination.” Trixie said.

“Says the talking Wonder Dog.” Lily replied somewhat sarcastically, I might add.